Boston Celtics: Al Horford’s defense has been truly elite this postseason

Since making his way back to the Boston Celtics via trade during the offseason leading into 2021-22, Al Horford has shown the organization what they had been missing within their frontcourt over the previous two campaigns.

From his offensive production to his defensive ferocity, the veteran big man has proven to be a true difference-maker for this C’s team and, with his production, was one of the driving forces in their second-half surge that led them to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference standings.

Luckily for Boston, Horford’s level of play has only gone on to continue during this year’s playoff run, as he’s simply been one of, if not the most stabilizing force for Ime Udoka’s squad on both ends of the floor.

Logging 36.1 minutes a night, the power forward has found himself boasting all-around solid per-game averages of 12.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on a highly efficient 54 percent shooting from the floor and 47 percent shooting from deep.

Now, while there’s no doubt that his offensive play has been a tremendous asset during the team’s deep run thus far, it has been his efforts on the less glamorous side of the ball that should be receiving the most praise and attention from fans, analysts, and spectators alike.

So far through the postseason, the Boston Celtics find themselves boasting the league’s second-best Defensive Rating of 106.7, and Al Horford is a big reason why they’ve been so dominant, for, not only is he averaging an impressive 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals through 12 games played, but he’s also gone on to defend the most shots during this stretch out of anyone in the league and, with this, is lowering his opponents’ shooting percentages by a significant margin.

According to StatMuse, when the big has defended an opposing player’s shot attempt, on average he’s having them convert at a 10 percent worse clip, which places him second in the league behind only the 6x All-Defensive selection and former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green.

For some time now, it’s been well known that Horford’s impact on this team has been truly special, as he’s gone on to light up the box score and leave it all on the floor when it comes to his energy and hustle.

However, when delving a bit deeper into the advanced stats, that’s when one finds out just how tremendous his play and production has been for the Boston Celtics, especially on the defensive end where, simply put, he’s been absolutely elite.